100 OneShot Challenges
by Song of Silver Raven
Summary: Prin Pardus's 100 OneShot Challenges, filled with themes for endless possibilities of writing! For more info, see Prin Pardus' profile. Rated T for possible violence and romance


**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the first theme for Prin Pardus' "100 OneShots Challenge". See (/~prinpardus) for more details. It is 'Injured', as the title of the chapter says. It was an interesting spin on the word.. I'm glad, I got to use both definitions of injured. Physically and mentally. Writing it kinda made me want to scream at the lack of emotion in my own charater, Firestripe.. But I had to write this. It felt right! And I didn't have any other better ideas.**

**Also, I do not own Warriors. Pssh, if I did, Ashfur would've ended up with Squirrelflight and Willowshine would be named Willowheart.**

. . .

"StarClan has granted me nine lives; I will no longer be known as Brightstreak, but as Brightstar. I hope to be just as strong a ruler as Brackenstar was before me; he was a great leader, but his time has passed, and now I hope to make ThunderClan strong once more!" The weather fit the mood of the day; the sun was shining, but a few clouds blocked some of its light. ThunderClan's previous leader had just lost his last life in a battle against ShadowClan, and although they were victorious, it left the Clan broken. Brightstreak, the deputy, visited the Moonstone to become Brightstar. It was a mourning for Brackenstar, but rejoice for Brightstar.

Choruses of different-tuned cries and yowls rang from the cats in the old clearing. Even the elders shone with a different brightness in their eyes as usual, and the exhausted Willowheart and Icepaw even looked happier, despite the fact the two had been for the past two days treating cats' wounds left and right. The new leader was promising, and Brightstreak—no, Bright_star_—was a beautiful young she-cat who promised much to the Clan. Her leadership would have a long way to go before it ended, and the Clan seemed very relieved.

One cat watched with a particular fondness in his eyes as he gazed up at his new leader; the large orange tabby, Firestripe, had been appointed as the new deputy. When the two were apprentices, she had been his sweet love. At first, there wasn't much in her side of the relationship toward him; but after he saved her from drowning the in the RiverClan border river once, she began to notice him more, but nothing more than a friend, or a role model, someone to look up to; certainly nothing more..certainly not a mate. Though as warriors they had been great friends, Brightstar had found some other tom to be her mate. At first, Firestripe found himself hating her, but gradually their relationship began to mend back together.

Why he was her deputy he now, he wasn't quite sure; but he didn't mind it. It meant he got to spend more time with her, and deviously he knew that it would mean less time for her to spend with Crowflight. Of course, he was a strong fighter, but so was Crowflight. However, he could guess the reason a little—Crowflight was too ambitious. This made him feel proud.

Her voice brought him back to reality.

"Firestripe, will you organize some patrols? The fresh-kill pile is lower stocked than usual, and with leaf-bare coming, we'll need to fatten up as much as we can now to endure the harsh moons. Our borders along ShadowClan also need to be freshly remarked; send a larger patrol around there than on the RiverClan border, please, just in case they're planning something else. Put Leafpaw on the ShadowClan patrol, too—she's fast, so if it comes to a battle she can warn the clan, and the experience should be good for her." He could almost feel himself drowning in the silky layers of Brightstar's silvery voice. It was like the chiming of those shining Twoleg objects he had seen hanging on a Twoleg nest before when the wind blew by, only much prettier.. As his dark green eyes looked at her, he couldn't help but smile a bit. The beautiful slender silver-and-white she-cat, fatten up? The idea amused him.

However, in reply he dipped his head. This seemed to be a satisfying response for Brightstar, and so she bounded away from him towards the nursery, to check on her sister Swiftstream's recent litter. Only one kit had survived, and she had named him Cloudkit. It fit his pure-white pelt color, but the main reason his name was chosen was a bit ominous—how StarClan had covered the lives of what would've been his brother and sister with clouds. Nonetheless, he could see the overflowing adoration in Brightstar's gold eyes for her sister's only kitten, and knew that the dark meaning would soon be forgotten.

_Clouds to cover many more lives_... The words echoed in his mind. He was suddenly much more aware of his surroundings; he had almost forgotten the shadowy dream which had come to him a few days ago. He hadn't thought much about it, but the memory suddenly flared to life in his head. He tried to shake the thought away, and instead focused on being the best deputy possible, taking care of everything for Brightstar, organizing the patrols...

It seemed such a perfect, impenetrable start to what seemed like an eternity of happiness to the tom.

. . .

Moons passed, and life seemed great. Though the fresh-kill pile was rarely ever fully-stocked anymore and the clan was growing thinner, it didn't seem as bad as usual leaf-bares. Something about spending his first leaf-bare as a deputy made something in Firestripe click, like nothing bad could ever happen to him again. Today was even the first snow of the season, and the shivering yet gorgeous touch of the crystal snowflakes touching his thickening fur gave a feeling of excitement. His muscles coiled underneath him as he sprang deadly accurate, landing on an unsuspecting squirrel and killing it with a swift, sharp bite to the neck. With as much pride as an apprentice who just defeated a full grown warrior, he carried the large catch back to camp.

Just as he arrived, Brightstar was calling a clan meeting. He took his place as deputy near her. He heard Icepaw whispering something to the other apprentices. Every so often they would steal glances at him, then snap their gazes back among each other and start whispering again. What did they know that he didn't? A queasy feeling started to settle itself into his stomach. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a clan meeting!" The familiar call didn't seem any different than usual, but if he looked a bit closer he would notice that Brightstar was not as skinny as the other cats. This confused him, as she almost never ate anything nowadays before the rest of the clan did.

"I am expecting Crowflight's kits."

His world felt like it just turned upside down. How did this happen? Everything seemed so perfect! Suddenly it felt like his entire pelt was ripped off and he was left shivering alone in the terrible, freezing cold. His eyes glistened with hotness. He couldn't bare to look at her; the betraying Brightstar. Nor could he look at the smug Crowflight, whose dark grey face was beaming with pride. Firestripe knew she must have said something more, but the words didn't process into his mind. Without thinking, he bounded off through the bramble entrance into the forest. He could feel harsh wind slice through his fur, and he felt the forest rushing past him as he advanced.

And yet..it didn't seem right. Everything seemed so distant. He suddenly felt like he didn't know the forest which he had padded through so many times before in his life. The forest and trees were swallowing him with darkness.. and then forest ended as he reached the RiverClan border. The dark green eyes surveyed the rushing waters with nothing else to do. It wasn't quite cold enough for the water to have frozen over yet, and yet he knew the water was numbingly cold; he wouldn't dare step a paw into it.

Firestripe's head jerked around as a familiar scent breezed by him. She stepped into the clearing, her even sweeter-than-normal aroma intoxicating him. However, her presence reminded him of her sins, and he grew even angrier. "Why are you here?" he asked bitterly. He couldn't face her. He just couldn't. His body was practically trembling with rage and fear, but he kept on staring intently at the river, his back to her.

"Firestripe, I—" Now he just couldn't hold himself back any longer.

Unfortunately, Firestripe had the element of surprise. He whipped around and made an impressive leap over her. Knowing that she often used speed and twist to land her attacks and unbalance her opponent, he reared up on his front legs, hind legs kicking out at her from the behind. Sure enough, she had twisted around to face him and reared up on hind legs, but his kick sent her flying, landing with a sickening thud just inches away from the river. He heard a crack, and she yowled in pain. Her spine was broken. And..and the thought _pleased _him.

Normally he would've been disgusted with himself, but at the moment he wasn't. She was paralyzed, and would never be healed again. He could kill her now. Or was it better to watch her suffer? She would never give birth properly now, she could never move again past the break in her spine. He would become leader. She couldn't be their leader if she couldn't move her back legs! And yet it seemed moons before he could decide what to do with her.

He finally decided to watch her suffer. First, he dipped her front half, that could still feel pain, into the numbingly cold water. Her mouth opened in a wail of silent agony. She stared at him with pleading eyes, but he returned no emotion. Then, he dragged her by the scruff back to camp. He made up a story to explain how she broke her back, though his voice was a dull monotone whenever he spoke. Willowheart and Icepaw tried to nurse her in vain.

Why she never told what really happened, he wasn't sure. Why he still gained his nine lives, he wasn't sure.

Firestar wasn't exactly a _bad _leader. But the monotone tone continued, and his eyes were dull even when the won many victories over the other clans. Even when he mated with Lightbird, he looked at her and his kits with a dull, unamused expression. What could've been, now, was over. He knew it was time to move on. But did he want to move on? Did he really want to move on? Who knows? The decision was a tough one for anyone. He seemed to have, however..but when Brightstar wasn't looking, he would steal glances at her too, and would remember the way they used to share prey together, the way they used to sleep beside each other before she found Crowflight..

Ah…Crowflight.

Once or twice Firestar debated killing him, but he knew it would hurt him more to watch his loved one suffer through an endless life of not moving, and not giving birth to their kits. Of any of the good things to come out of it, that was certainly one of them.

But he was injured. So was she. But they were in different ways.

Brightstar lay helplessly in the elder's den. She was permanently injured and scarred. She didn't talk much anymore, not even to Crowflight, not even to her mother, who was also an elder—not even to Cloudkit (who became Cloudpaw) or Swiftstream. She always watched Firestar, however, with those large, pleading gold eyes. But he never returned the look.

And Firestar's heart was broken. Terribly, terribly broken. Isn't that explanation enough?

But whose injury was worse?


End file.
